When it comes to buying an iPhone in Brazil, consumers have one extra option that the rest of us do not.

There's the "iPhone" made by the California tech giant Apple. Then there's the "iphone" made by the Brazilian firm Gradiente Eletronica and, perhaps in a slap to Apple, runs on rival Android's operating system.

And it's going to stay that way pending any future appeal or settlement.

On Thursday, Brazil's Institute of Industry Property (INPI), the country's main patent regulator, ruled that Apple holds no exclusive right to use the iPhone moniker to market its mobile phones. If Apple continues to use the iPhone name, Gradiente can sue.

In 2009, Apple paid Proview Taiwan a sum of $55,000 for use of the "iPad" name in mainland China. But in a complicated dispute, Proview claimed Apple set up a shell company to fool it into selling the trademark. In addition, Proview Taiwan did not actually own the rights to the iPad trademark in mainland China -- a subsidiary, Proview Shenzhen, did. Apple only secured the name in 2012 after paying out the actual trademark owner $60 million.